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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907376">In Case You Dont Live Forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shakespearebutworse/pseuds/shakespearebutworse'>shakespearebutworse</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternia is Terrible, Based on a song, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Karkat Vantas Has Gills, Limeblood Karkat Vantas, M/M, Song fic, This has probably been done before, idk if thats going to be relevant to the plot or not, thats what this is called right?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:13:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907376</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shakespearebutworse/pseuds/shakespearebutworse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He gave you the life you want, and you will do the same for him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eridan Ampora/Karkat Vantas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. let me tell you now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s almost a curse that you have to live this long. You will outlive all of the people you care about, except feferi, including the person you care about most. You know your time with him is limited, but you intend on making the absolute best of it. Karkat Vantas is a man who looked into the eyes of a cruel and uncaring universe and said “fuck you,” and you absolutely admire that. You never told him, but you look up to him so much, not physically, he is much shorter than you. He’s one of the bravest trolls you know. He’s been the only person who looks past your facade and sees who you truly are.</p><p>So, here the two of you sit, on his lounge plank. His warm head is resting on your shoulder. The two of you are 8 sweeps, nearing your ninth. Your ascension day is coming shortly, and while you must remain on planet to be an orphaner under feferi’s orders, he must leave the planet and concur for the alternian empire. If all goes well, he’ll be a great threshecutioner. What is likely to happen, though, is that he will be culled for being a mutant. You sincerely hope that that is not what will happen, but you know that realistically, it’s the probable outcome. The two of you are surprised that he made it this long. Not only is alternia fucking brutal, especially on lowbloods, the being an off spectrum mutant factor certainly does not make life here any easier.</p><p>You plan on making the best of your time together. You’re so proud of him for making this far, you don’t know where you would be without him. Hell, you don’t know if you would even be here without him. Karkat has helped you through so much, and you plan on helping him through this.</p><p> </p><p>You realized that you were flushed for him when you were 6 sweeps, not long after Feferi had decided to break off your moirallegiance. When you came to him about it, you expected for him to turn you away, but he comforted you. He was there for you when nobody else was. It took you until you were 8 sweeps to work up the courage to confess to him. There was no way that you could just continue on living if you never got to tell him. You went over to his hive and pretended that you just wanted to hang out and watch some movies when actually, you planned to confess your feelings. You expected him to get mad, but told you that he felt the same. That was one of the happiest moments of your life.</p><p>When the red in his eyes started to fill in, it made it much more difficult for him to hide his blood color. He told you that he hated them. You thought that they were beautiful. Every time you gaze into his violently red eyes, you cannot help but be amazed. You love everything about him. His eyes, his half-functioning set of gills, and the finlets at the end of his ears. Oh, when he told you about those you were so excited. What he saw as ‘just another one of his genetic mutations’, you saw as interesting and unique.</p><p>You genuinely don’t know what you did to deserve him. He’s perfect, in every way.</p><p> </p><p>You just don’t know what you’ll do when he’s gone, whether that means off-planet gone, or gone gone. You guess that you could sneak him onto your ship as orphaner and live a life on the run, making his life just as amazing and exciting as you can. You just want to protect him. You want to be sure that he’s alive and safe. Running away with him would be a crime, but that’s unimportant. You don’t care. As long as he’s okay.</p><p>He gave you the life you want, and you will do the same for him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. What did I do to deserve you?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The two of you finally have the rest of your life ahead of you and you couldn’t be more excited.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>decided that id turn this into a real fic so here<br/>also im so fucking tired</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This is it. Today, the 12th bilunar perigee of the 6th dark seasons equinox, is ascension day. It is also your matesprits 9th wriggling day. You hope it will not be his last.</p><p>For the past week, while all of your friends were preparing to go off planet, you and karkat had been preparing to go on the run. Most of this process involved going through his hive and sorting through his belongings and making sure to destroy anything that could be used to identify him. Its not like it mattered much, you were going to destroy his hive anyway, but you did want to take extra care just to be safe. You need to be cautious. If you got caught, it could get both you and karkat culled. You have taken more than the necessary precautions to ensure his safety. </p><p>None of your friends know about this. They can’t know, it's too much of a risk. The ones who found out about his blood color will just assume he got culled, and the ones who don’t will likely assume that he became a threshecutioner or something. Karkat has always taken extra precaution to be sure that nobody figures out his blood color, you’re kind of impressed actually. There are only 4 other trolls that know: terezi, sollux, kanaya, and vriska. Terezi could smell his blood color, sollux only knows because terezi told him, karkat told kanaya, and vriska only knows because she can read minds. Most of your other friends just assume that karkat is a really insecure rust blood. Some of them even came up with the ridiculous theory that karkat is secretly a lime blood, but that's actually impossible considering there have been more off-spectrum mutants in recent history then there have been living lime bloods (by the time the signless was around, lime bloods had already been wiped out). </p><p>So now, here you are, all of karkat’s stuff is in your hive and most of it is ready to go onto your ship. See, while most trolls on alternia will be going off planet to concor for the alternian empire, you are to stay on planet hunting lusi to feed Gl’bgolyb. So, the plan is to sneak karkat onto your ship and spend your days killing lusi and protecting karkat. You owe him that much. Karkat has done so much for you, and you plan on returning the favor 10 fold. You would do anything to make sure that he was okay. Literally anything, even something as ridiculous as this. </p><p>You sit on the loungeplank next to karkat. This is the first time that in a while that you’ve been able to relax in a while. Not only have you been helping karkat, you’ve also been preparing to become a full time orphaner.</p><p>Karkat leans his head on your shoulder, “hey, eridan?” he looks up at you.</p><p>You glance down at him,”hmm?” </p><p>“Thank you,” he embraces you, “for everything. Fuck, i probably wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”</p><p>You lean down and kiss the top of his head, “i wwould anythin’ for you, just to ensure your safety, kar.”</p><p>If someone had told you a few sweeps ago that you would be helping your mutant matesprit escape culling, you would have shot them on sight. But now, you couldn’t imagine life being any different. </p><p>He shifts onto your lap and faces you. You gaze into his beautiful ruby eyes, its the most magnificent color you’ve ever seen, you could never understand why such a color could be hated by the empire. </p><p>You close the gap between the two of you with a kiss. His lips are much softer than yours. Your skin is rough due to sweeps of orphaning.  You gently cup his face, damn he's warm. He’s like an actual little heater compared to you. </p><p>You kiss is cut short by the sound of your front door opening. </p><p>“Erifin?” you hear a voice call out from your enteranceblock.</p><p>Shit you almost forgot that feferi has a key to your hive from back when you were moirails. She just loves letting herself in.</p><p>Karkat goes to hide in the ablution block like you had instructed in case of something like this. </p><p>She meets you in the living block. You try to look as not suspicious as possible.</p><p>“Fef, wwhat are you doin’ here?” </p><p>“Oh! Just checking in on you!” she glances around your living block, “ready to sail off tomorrow?”</p><p>“Yep just, uh, doin’ some last minute cleanin’ before i leave.”</p><p>That is technically what you are doing you guess. </p><p>She gives you a sad look, “Look, eridan, I know that you’re upset over karkat leaving.”</p><p>You make your fins droup, “yeah, i really am.”</p><p>She gives you an almost sympathetic smile, “if you wanted, i could arrange time for you to meet one day.”</p><p>Shit, she can’t know that he isn’t going off planet, “no, it’s fine, really. I wwouldn’t wwant anyone to get into any trouble.”</p><p>Feferi decides to drop it for once.</p><p>“Whale then, i'll be seaing you when you drop of lusi!” </p><p>And with that she simply leaves. Most of your interactions with her have been short since she broke off your moirallegiance. You think it's for the best, though.</p><p>You tell Karkat that it's safe to come out now. You’re really sorry that that happened, it was unexpected. </p><p>The two of you set off for your study. You still have some things to finalise, you have to fill out your official documents and karkat's fake ones, you doubt he will even need these though.</p><p>Hatch name: Vantas, Karkat<br/>Age: 9 Sweeps<br/>Blood color: Rust<br/>Sign: Cancer<br/>Title: the Achromic<br/>Occupation: former threshecutioner <br/>Status: Alive</p><p>Hatch name: Eridan Ampora<br/>Age: 9 Sweeps<br/>Blood color: Violet<br/>Sign: aquarius<br/>Title: caligula<br/>Occupation: Orphaner<br/>Status: alive</p><p>Karkat's title comes from him being hemoanonymous, but yours is literally just taken from your trollian handle. Speaking of trollian, you made sure that karkat made a new trollian that could not be tracked back to him. His new trollian handle is crustaceanGod, a handle that he decided on as a joke and is now stuck with. Karkat had told everyone that he was just sick of his old handle, when in reality he was doing this for his safety. You also made a new trollian, but it was more of one just for karkat to contact for discussing your plan. Your handle is carnivorousAmphibian and in your opinion, it sounds cool as fuck. </p><p>You continue to work as karkat rests next to you, almost asleep. The past sweep has been incredibly difficult for him, but hopefully soon, he will be able to rest. By tomorrow, you will be in control of your own crew that literally cannot disobey or harm you and karkat. Now, you are very far from the power hungry wriggler you used to be, but you must admit that the thought does excite you.</p><p>Karkat falls over, clearly asleep. He must be tired. You should probably take him to your recuperacoon, you both need to get up early anyways. </p><p>You’ll let him rest.</p><p>The two of you finally have the rest of your life ahead of you and you couldn’t be more excited.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>please leave any thoughts or questions in the comments</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>things are just starting to get exiting</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>just a warning: i do not know how the fuck boats or ship crews work</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Its the next day. You made it. The two of you made it past ascension day and on to your adult lives. Karkat is still asleep in your recuperacoon that will remain in your hive when you leave. You want to let him rest, but soon you must wake him up, you need to get an early start for today. </p>
<p>Currently, you are in the kitchen cooking breakfast with the remnants of the ingredients in your refrigerator. You’re making a simple omelette. It's not much, but you’ll make it work.</p>
<p>You look at the time. Its an hour before you need to be on the ship. You havent seen what the ship looks like yourself, but from how feferi has described her, she’s pretty fucking awesome. Ship technology has progressed since the days of your ancestor, orphaner dualscar. She’s one of the finest ships alternia has to offer. She’s as high-tech as possible, and made mostly of mahogany, with violet and imperial red accents. She sounds absolutely stunning. </p>
<p>You go to wake karkat up. He will wait here while you finish loading the ship. Then, once you give the signal, he will board. Its risky, and you know that, but its so worth it. Its worth it even if just for the chance to give him the best life possible. </p>
<p>When you get into your respite block, you see that he’s still asleep. He’s so peaceful when he’s sleeping. When he isn’t is, well, another story. You love to watch his peaceful blank expression while he sleeps. Ok no that sounds creepy. You just like how peaceful he looks is all. You aren’t a creep. You do not watch you matesprit while he sleeps, that would be weird.  </p>
<p>You nudge him, “kar.”</p>
<p>You nudge him again “kar wwake up”</p>
<p>You poke him this time, “karkat.”</p>
<p>He wakes up this time “hmmph.”</p>
<p>“Mornin’ kar,” he’s so cute when he first wakes up. </p>
<p>“Mmm, morning.”</p>
<p>“Look, i gotta’ go, but i made you some breakfast. I’ll come an’ get you wwhen its time, alright?”</p>
<p>He yawns, “thanks,” he pauses, “love you.”</p>
<p>“Lovve you too, kar,” you kiss him on his forehead. This was not the best decision, for he is slimy. Its kinda gross to be honest.     </p>
<p>You look back at him as he departs, just to make sure he notices the change of clothes you left for him. He does, so you leave.</p>
<p>Once you get to the dock, you are absolutely amazed by how amazing this ship truly is. Unlike your ship-hive, she’s absolutely fucking masive. She’s not too glamorous as she still needs to be practical, but she’s still absolutely gorgeous. </p>
<p>You are introduced to your crew, a few rustbloods, some bronzebloods, and even 2 olivebloods. They're not that important anyways, as long as they listen and do their job. You tell them that you do not need any of their help and that the ship is already loaded and you can find your way around yourself.  </p>
<p>You pass through the ship, making notes of where things are and where they belong. You come across your quarters. Good, there’s and extra recuperacoon, just like you asked. All of your books and karkats books are on the shelf. While his are mostly about romance, while  yours are about actually important things like history and skills. Not that his books arent important, just that yours are more useful. </p>
<p>Ok, now that you’re sure that its safe, you need to let karkat know that its time. </p>
<p>-- carnivorousAmphibian [CA} began trolling crustaceanGod [CG} -- </p>
<p>CA: hey kar</p>
<p>CA: its time</p>
<p>CA: &lt;3</p>
<p>CG: ALRIGHT, IM OUTSIDE.</p>
<p>CG: &lt;3</p>
<p>--  carnivorousAmphibian [CA] ceased trolling crustaceanGod [CG] -- </p>
<p>You meet up with karkat outside of your hive. He’s wearing a similar outfit to you, a black button with grey pants. You also notice that he is wearing a necklace with your sign on it that you had given him a while ago. That's sweet.</p>
<p>You reach down and offer him a kiss on the cheek and he blushes bright red. You know he would most definitely scream at you for saying so, but you think he’s absolutely adorable</p>
<p>While to most, your plan would sound like you would be quietly sneaking him on board through a back entrance, in actuality, you’re just going to walk on board with him through the main entrance. Its not like anyone’s going to question you, they legally cannot. </p>
<p>You show karkat around, telling him to make note of where important ship parts are, just in case. You know that karkat has absolutely no fucking clue how boats work, but you think its important for him to at least know the basics. </p>
<p>Finally, you get to your shared quarters and the two of you sit down. The two of you are finally free. </p>
<p>That is, until you hear the signature knock of feferi. </p>
<p>“Eridan. May i speak to you for a moment? I just want to check in with you.”</p>
<p>“Uh yea. Hold on just one moment.”</p>
<p>Shit. she cant see that he’s in here. </p>
<p>“Just stay here, i’vve got this,” you whisper.</p>
<p>You open and close the door as quickly as possible. Feferi notices, but decides not to say anything.</p>
<p>“Wwhat is it?”</p>
<p>“Like i said, i just wanted the check in with you, erifin,” she pauses. “Eridan, i hope you know that i will not let you misstrout your crew. Now, i trout that we shell have any problems with that, right?” </p>
<p>Of course this is what she was worried about, she mostly remembers you as the asshole you used to be.</p>
<p>“Of course that wwon’t be a problem.”</p>
<p>She looks suspicious, but backs off. “Alright, then.” she pauses again. “Goodluck out there!” and with that she leaves.</p>
<p>You return to your quarters to a sleeping karkat. How can he still be tired? Oh well, you let him sleep and grab a book from your bookshelf. This book is about limebloods, they were a caste of semi-aquatic low bloods with natural calming abilities. They were prone to having mutated blood colors, the most common being bright red. They had gills and finlets at the ends of their ears and a few other sea dweller traits, but they were also warmblooded. They were great pacifiers and did very well in the pale and ashen quadrants. They were wiped out hundreds of sweeps ago because they were seen as a threat to the higher castes. For a while, you’ve been suspecting that karkat could be one of them, but that's impossible, as their extinction happened many sweeps before his ancestor, the signless, was hatched. He has all the traits. Plus, his sign, the symbol of the signless, was once a lime blood sign.</p>
<p>You get a message on trollian. Who the fuck could be measaging you right now?</p>
<p>-- arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling carnivorousAmphibian [CG] --</p>
<p>AG: Heeeeeeeey eridan.</p>
<p>What? How did she get your new handle? Nobody had it other than kar and you know that he wouldn’t give it to her. </p>
<p>CA: howw did you get this handle</p>
<p>CA: nobody has access to this</p>
<p>AG: Oh I have my ways. ::::)</p>
<p>CA: wwait</p>
<p>CA: off-planet trolls dont get free time until a wweek after leavvin</p>
<p>CA: so howw are wwe talkin right noww</p>
<p>AG: If you think im going off planet you’re fucking stupid. </p>
<p>CA: vvris</p>
<p>CA: thats a crime</p>
<p>AG: well its not like it’ll be the first one.</p>
<p>AG: 8esides, I have reason to 8eleive that you’re doing the same thing. </p>
<p>CA: wwhat are you talkin about?</p>
<p>AG: Oh i think you know ampora.</p>
<p>CA no</p>
<p>CA: i really don’t</p>
<p>AG: Oh, you doooooooo.</p>
<p>-- arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling carnivorousAmphibian [CA] -- </p>
<p>What? </p>
<p>Just what?</p>
<p>How did she know that? She must have been just fucking with you, right? You sincerely hope thats what it is.</p>
<p>You glance over at karkat. This is going to be more exciting than you thought.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>please let me know any and all questions and feedback</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>please let me know what you think!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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